You mean apart from the 9 figure cheques that come off the back of those valuations!?
Real world, it means nothing. Lets see what the ACTUAL valuations are when floating.
Well, the valuations mean that N26 have received $100m for giving up c.3% of their business.
In the real world, the business has received that cash. Appreciate other investors can’t sell at that price/valuation but it does mean something pretty tangible!
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By the way, I agree with your general premise that the valuations we’re seeing are too high for the public markets to bear.
But surely the inverse means there’s more potential for Monzo to exploit vs N64 who have pulled out of the UK. You could argue they pulled out because they can’t even compete with Monzo?
So yea, the fun things about valuations is there’s always a way to interpret things to one person’s preference, or another 
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Yes, you could argue that N26 were unable to compete with competitors in the UK - not just Monzo or Starling but also the legacy banks - though I would say this was more down to their poor strategy and execution here. The UK retail banking/fintech market is one of the most competitive globally.
However, as Monzo has reached critical mass in the UK it may find future growth here slower than say N26 which is concentrating on other (less competitive?) markets… and without my knowing the underlying health of the businesses, VC valuations tend to relate heavily to future expectations of growth in customer numbers.
True, but Monzo could apply for a EU Banking license, and instantly increase that future growth prospect. A hurdle, yes, but if they can achieve in the US (yet to be seen) then I’d imagine Europe’s not far behind.
Monzo is raising new cash from investors at an almost 40 per cent discount to its previous fundraising. The digital bank is close to a deal that would value it around £1.25bn, compared to a £2bn valuation last June. The pandemic is posing a serious challenge to unlisted tech companies as VCs become more cautious with their money.
Wow, that’s a big discount!
the pandemic is posing a serious challenge to many more companies than just fintechs … to raise £80m from anybody in these times is pretty good going
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Yeah I totally agree. My company is backed by the same VC as N26 and we we’re basically told to find another way to survive.
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very fair point
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They should have given the Crowd a chance to Top up at this valuation.
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Nothing to say that they aren’t going to do this yet?
they usually communicate on them at the same time.
Usually they’d say we are allowing the crowd to invest alongside VC.
Indeed but this news isn’t from Monzo but a leak via the FT.
If this story is accurate (quite a large if) I suspect we’ll look back and celebrate it as a fantastic result in a few months time.
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Maybe someone from Monzo should fill us in on what’s going on, under the certain circumstances everyone will understand etc.
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unlikely to get any confirmation , denial , or details from anybody at Monzo until everything is signed sealed and delivered
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